My Caddy Van

[Lams]

thanks matey. I think it's only a matter of time before you get rid of your leaf springs and put in rear coilovers like the Caddy Racer...

[Preen59]

thanks matey. I think it's only a matter of time before you get rid of your leaf springs and put in rear coilovers like the Caddy Racer...

Hahaha.. What makes you say that? It handles good enough the way it is.. No real point in doing that!

FYI, the rear lights on the caddy are NOT can bus and therefore the wiring is relatively simple..

[Lams]

I'd like to get GTI seats in like you did...

[Preen59]

Definitely worth it, Alex. Definitely!!

[caddyshack]

I'm looking for a set too....like trying to find a needle in a Haystack!

[Preen59]

I'm looking for a set too....like trying to find a needle in a Haystack!

Yeah it was just pure luck that a set came up when I was looking. PM Oli on the forum. He's a nice guy and always seems to pick something up....

[psyone]

Hey Preen, nice caddy man. btw how much did that pair of seats set you back ? just to get some idea of what i should be aiming for

[Sands]

Kool caddy

[Preen59]

Sorry, I didn't see your post...

Hey Preen, nice caddy man. btw how much did that pair of seats set you back ? just to get some idea of what i should be aiming for

Hey dude. Pretty sure they cost me $400.00. And I picked them up myself because, like, I have a van. haha.

Kool caddy

Thanks, mate!

[Lams]

you got them from Oli? that's a great price. The seats in the new Maxi Life are quite nice though, good enough for me

[Preen59]

you got them from Oli? that's a great price. The seats in the new Maxi Life are quite nice though, good enough for me

Yeah, not bad at all, really. They were pretty dirty, but cleaned up sweet. The original seats sucked. These ones are the best "trip" seats i've ever had.

[psyone]

$400 for a set is pretty good. did you had to get these touran consoles to fit them seats in ?

[Preen59]

$400 for a set is pretty good. did you had to get these touran consoles to fit them seats in ?

You can, but I didn't.

You can use the clearance holes in the console for the bolts. I just used 25 or 30mm (can't remember) 6mm thick washers to clamp them down thru those holes.

[Preen59]

So... I Oettinger flashed the Caddy.

Stoked! More power, engine is now smooth as silk. No power surge as it comes on boost on light throttle any more. The power increase was quite impressive, actually. I'll have to get it on the dyno...


Also, probably taking it to Wakefield next weekend. That's right. I'm tracking a Van.

[Preen59]

The Caddy did it's first track day last weekend at Wakefield..



I went with a couple of mates from Orange, one of which owns the 996 Carrera Cup car on the left.

We had a ball. I just ran the 17s with street tyres and got it down to a 1:22.5, which I thought was reasonably respectable considering the vehicle. I got a lot of odd looks and it had a lot of people talking.

I was able to fill up in Orange, drive to Goulburn, beat the van around the track all day, drive home and still have a 1/4 tank left. Not bad I reckon.


This also showed it's weaknesses. The rear end needs a heavier sway bar and a panhard rod. The front needs harder control arm bushes, more camber and more caster. The brakes aren't up to the challenge for more than about 6 laps.


This all came at an opportunistic time, as I was just due for brakes all round (105k km on the original brakes).


I sourced a set of very low km Mk6 GTI front brakes from Miss Vuks. I thought the rear discs were the same as GTI, so I ordered a set of DBA 4000 T3 "Club Spec" rear slotted discs and EBC Yellow pads.

Disc Brakes Australia | 4000 T3 - Disc Brakes Australia

I'll probably order a set of those for the front, too. I have EBC Yellow coming for the front, so I'll change them over at a later date.



Then came today..

I fitted the Mk6 GTI brakes. The GTI rear discs didn't fit- The pads are the same, but the discs are bigger. I need GTI rear caliper carriers to fit the discs. The offset and thickness is the same and they're about 26mm bigger in diameter. I machined the rear OEM discs and re-fitted with EBC yellow pads. It now stops quite well and should be able to do that repeatedly for a bit longer, now.




Sammy has removed his rear brakes from his Mk6 GTI for R32 brakes, so I've lined up those for the rear of the van. When I swap them, I'll be able to run the rear DBA rotors. I'll do this quickly and the pads should be right to swap over onto a new disc.


I have a set of Supaloy control arms on the way. This will give me stiffer bushes, more caster, more camber available via the adjustable lower ball joints and they're a heck of a lot lighter. Panhard rod will be reasonably straight forward. Stiffer rear sway bar will be interesting, but I'm going to see what I can get.


I've been in contact with Volkswagen Racing UK about their racing Caddys and got some further input from them about chassis. They gave me some tyre pressure info to run/try and told me i'm on the right path in regards to the rest.


I'm also going to look at adapting either a VWR intake or an APR Carbonio..





Should be interesting times ahead..